Vintage Christmas Cards

The "Art Gallery" is a journey into the past and a tribute to the amazing Art which adorned Postcards and Greeting Cards from Victorian times to the 20th century. Manufacturer's employed quality artists and many of the large manufacturer's held "art" competitions to generate interest and to get new ideas for cards. Some of these competitions awarded as much as $1,000.00 to the winner as far back as the 1870's!

The oldest known greeting card in existence is a Valentine made in the 1400's and is in the British Museum. New Year's cards can be dated back to this period as well, but the New Year greeting didn't gain popularity until the late 1700's. The Valentine and Christmas Card were the most popular cards, with Valentine's offering us the most "mechanical", "pop-up" and filigree cards, followed by Christmas, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Halloween and Thanksgiving. Cards gained their highest popularity in the late 1800's and early 1900's offering us cards with some of the most unusual art. The Victorian age give us the most prolific cards.

Valentine greetings were popular as far back as the Middle Ages, when lovers Early 1900's Valentine's Day Card said or sang their Valentines. Written Valentines began to appear after 1400. Paper Valentines were exchanged in Europe where they were given in place of Valentine gifts. Handmade paper Valentines were especially popular in England. In the mid to early 1800's, Valentines began to be assembled in factories. Early manufactured Valentines were black and white pictures painted by workers in a factory. Esther Howland known as the Mother of the Valentine made fancy Valentines with real lace, ribbons and colorful pictures known as "scrap". She introduced the Paper Lace Valentine in the mid 1800's. By the end of the 1800's, Valentines were being made entirely by machine. Christmas cards were introduced and popularized by John Calcott Horsley, the artist of what is known as the world's first Christmas Card and Louis Prang, known as the Father of the American Christmas Card.

The Art Gallery is a work in progress. Other holidays will be added soon. I will be offering Postcards, Merchandise such as mugs, mouse pads, playing cards, tiles and coasters as well as Downloads for Commercial Use. The Cards are from my Personal Card Collection. The Collection offers some of my favorite pieces of which I've been collecting for decades. Most are in excellent condition, some show postage marks which add to the character of the card. Many are quite rare and perhaps never been seen before. The artists on the Cards were some of the most prolific such as Ellen Clapsaddle, E.C. Banks, Francis Brundage, Kathryn Elliott and many whom of which are unknown. They were manufactured by the Great Print Houses of the past such as Charles Goodall, Marcus Ward, Raphael Tuck & Sons, Prang, De La Rue and More.

The Art Gallery will be growing with images being added regularly. Future Galleries will include New Year's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, 4th of July and Thanksgiving.

If an image you are interested in for Stock Photography, or a gift item is not yet shown, please email me at vivkrug@gmail.com and I'll see if I have your image in my archives. My collection includes many cards that are not standard size but can be made available upon request. My collection includes many cards that are not standard size but can be made available upon request. Some of these images do not fit modern day prints exactly and may have a slight edge or border when printed, but do not take away from the overall image or beauty!